The Early Flight Debacle... How Do You Prepare For The Wake Up?

[bumbershoot]

Nothing and no one is awake at 2am to leave for airport.

Except for all the people getting on your flight.


OP, I want to revisit the airport-sleeping idea. It's uncomfortable, loud, and cold. You really can't sleep because you're worried about your stuff. And you don't know if the secure part of the airport will be open; DH once refused to get an airport hotel while on work (because his work TA didn't think about the hours of layover, and he didn't get the hotel overnight approved, and he didn't want to pay it with our personal account then get it approved) then found out in the middle of the night that the secure area was closed, and THEN found out that the cleaners were going to be steam-cleaning the floors. All night long.


I'm not a morning person at all. But for vacation travel, I am. Get everything as ready as possible. Make notes while awake and unstressed, so that you can just check things off and not forget anything. etc. You just do it.

 

[kerplop]

We always fly out at 6:30 AM, but that's what we prefer. Most of the time we can't sleep anyway because of excitement, so why not get there early!

 

[IvyWinter]

So I think I have a solve! Good friend of mine who still lives in Queens offered me his couch to crash on. That's the difference between waking up at 3:45 vs 5:00am, and I'm more willing to take a cab from there because it's closer & cheaper. Still, i may try to wake up a little earlier each morning for about 3 days prior to just get used to it. I once went to disney with only 3 hours of totally interrupted sleep... needless to say I almost fell asleep in one of the tunnels in Space Mountain and did NOT feel good by the end of that night! Won't do that again!

 

[kamik86]

When I am going for work and I have a 6 AM flight, and a 1.5 hour drive to the airport that means leaving the house at 3 AM at the latest just in case there is an accident or issue on that drive. If its for work I go to bed a bit earlier and sleep on the plane some if I can. Generally that means I'm not working until the next day though and can catch up on a bit of sleep before meetings or testing starts.

If its for vacation and I have to do this and have plans the first day then I stay in a hotel near the airport.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would stay at a hotel by the airport. That way I the morning you are faced with a 45 minute cab ride and hope that they is no traffic tie ups that make getting to the airport on time a challenge.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

I used to do the crazy early flights out of LaGuardia. I lived in the 100s on the UWS, so I could just take a crosstown bus there easy-peasy (and cheap)! I do not envy a flight out of JFK, so you have my sympathies.

I recently changed my schedule to 4 10s. I also have an hour+ commute each way. I get up at 3:15a to shower and get ready for work and I leave at 4:40a. I just went to bed early the night before I started the schedule. It took me two weeks to settle into it, and I don't love it, but the three day weekends every week are worth it!!!

Now that I travel mostly West to East, I am all about red-eye flights. Usually I fly out around 9 or 10p and arrive at 7 or 8a. This next trip, we're flying out at 12:30a! I hope I will be able to sleep the whole first leg of the trip!!

 

[gdrj]

How do you all deal with it? Do you schedule earlier mornings a few days before to get used to it? Do you just go to bed normal time, wake up early and sleep on the plane? Do you say screw it and take a 5 hours energy or something? I just would love to know how you "prep" for early flights!

I just think about being at the pool with a drink in my hand before noon!

 

[Halle]

Last time Dh and I had an early flight, the alarm didn't go off....DH admitted to the error. It was like the scene from Home Alone...literally...I yelled we overslept!!!

 

[hsmamato2]

funny... just today I found a significant price drop in my SWA flights..... instead of a 10 am departure ,now we're departing at 5:25 am...... to save $$$! (my kid loves the early early departures, I guess we've conditioned him that early am= vacation time)

 

[whitney250]

We always take the earliest flight out, which is usually around 6:30am. It's about a 30 minute drive from our house to the nearest airport, so we wake up about 3:30ish/4. The best way I have found to deal with the lack of sleep is to take a late nap the day before, because lord knows I won't be able to sleep that night lol! So I usually spend the rest of the night packing after I wake up, then I sleep on the plane if possible.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I am also an early bird. If need to get up even earlier than I usually do, I set my alarm. If I know I really have to leave, I set it 15 minutes earlier than I really need to do, so I have some fudge time. I guess I just move fast, as I know I need to leave, and that gets me awake enough to leave when I need to. Then I sleep on the plane, and never schedule a late night on the day we arrive. We just relax and then go to bed early and be bright the next day. If missing is that important, than I would spend the money, and stay closer to the airport.

I actually like the very early fights. There's usually less traffic to get to the airport, and security usually has a smaller line.

+1

 

[Minnesota!]

We are morning people, to start, and early morning is better for us. We routinely try and take the 530 am flights… getting up at 2 am, stopping for breakfast at an all night diner, and being to the airport by 330. I get nervous about oversleeping so we set multiple alarms, but honestly, I am so amped up, I don’t sleep regardless.


If you are worried about it, I would spring for the hotel close to the airport.

 

[hsmamato2]

We are morning people, to start, and early morning is better for us. We routinely try and take the 530 am flights… getting up at 2 am, stopping for breakfast at an all night diner, and being to the airport by 330. I get nervous about oversleeping so we set multiple alarms, but honestly, I am so amped up, I don’t sleep regardless.

Genius!!! we do the 3 a.m. run all the time when we fly, never once thought of adding a hearty diner breakfast to it! I'm doing that next trip! ( som uch better than my Dh's airport McD's stop...ewww)

 

[Dis703]

I had to leave the house at 4:30am for a trip in October. I set the alarm for 3:45, but honestly I was so pumped up for the trip I hardly slept anyhow. That's typical for me before most Disney trips. The excitement tends to keep me going so I had no issues getting up and out. I'm not normally a morning person at all but for Disney somehow I do it.

 

[dadtoagirl03]

I have to travel to Florida on business several times a year and my travel coordinator always books me on the 5:30 am flight. I'm an 80 minute drive from the airport so I get to leave my house around 3:30 - 3:45 am. Wipes me out for a few days every time, but the line is never long at security.

 

[twinsmama]

Your taxi will probably not cost that much, you will beat all the traffic because you need to be at the airport by 6am. Look into shuttle service...sorry I forget what it is called, but there is a shuttle that will pick you up at many locations in Manhattan and take you to the airport for about $30 one way. You wouldneed to take an even EARLIER LIRR train to garuntee you make it to the airport in time. That is a loooong trip from Penn to JFK. I highly recommend shelling out for a cab or using a shuttle service.

To prepare yourself, just say screw it and take 5 hr energy :-D If you can make yourself go to sleep early the night before that is great, but you may be excited and unable to do so. Set multiple alarms to make sure you don't miss it!

So I'm taking a 7:30 A.M flight from JFK to disney in just about 3 weeks and im kind of dreading the wake up. Growing up, I lived in Queens, about a 10 min drive from JFK, and had the luxury of not having to get up too early to get there. Now, I live in Manhattan, hate the idea of a $50+ taxi (which will take me like 45 minutes anyway) and would rather take the LIRR from Penn to the air train. Anyway, that puts me at taking a 5:30am or so LIRR train, to get to the airport a little after 6am. Which means likely getting up at 4:30. I get up at 8 am for work every morning so i am NOT used to that early and it's been years since ive taken such an early flight.

How do you all deal with it? Do you schedule earlier mornings a few days before to get used to it? Do you just go to bed normal time, wake up early and sleep on the plane? Do you say screw it and take a 5 hours energy or something? I just would love to know how you "prep" for early flights!

 

[IvyWinter]

Your taxi will probably not cost that much, you will beat all the traffic because you need to be at the airport by 6am. Look into shuttle service...sorry I forget what it is called, but there is a shuttle that will pick you up at many locations in Manhattan and take you to the airport for about $30 one way. You wouldneed to take an even EARLIER LIRR train to garuntee you make it to the airport in time. That is a loooong trip from Penn to JFK. I highly recommend shelling out for a cab or using a shuttle service.

To prepare yourself, just say screw it and take 5 hr energy :-D If you can make yourself go to sleep early the night before that is great, but you may be excited and unable to do so. Set multiple alarms to make sure you don't miss it!

Cabs definitely do cost that much from manhattan, even early in the AM. Ive done it before... i hate wasting my $$ on them. I grew up here so i loooove public transportation even if it = more time.

It's all good anyway, i updated some days ago my friend is letting me crash at his place in queens, where it will only be about a 25 min cab ride that will be cheaper. Plus, that means more sleep for me!

 

[IvyWinter]

ugh i had a double post sorry!

 

[ParrotBill]

...As I got older, I started having 'airport sleep'.....I would wake up every few hours, worrying that I had overslept!!! ...

Ha! So I am not the only one. I noticed the same thing. Since we are a spoke airport, I rarely have any choices other than early morning departures. That usually means arriving at the airport by 5am, getting up 3:30 and leaving the house 4:15.

I can deal with this by making sure I am packed a night ahead and getting to bed early with multiple alarms set that I really don't need (see above.) But getting the rest of family packed a night early, well... that means they are up scurrying around packing while I try to sleep!

 

[tinkerbella16]

We are morning people. I work from home, so my work day starts at 4am. We booked our flights for our September trip and our flight to MCO departs PHL at 6:05am! So we should be arriving at 8:25am. We LOVE early flights. The earlier we get to Disney, the better. Stretches out our arrival day, which is awesome for us. In November, my flight out of AC departed at 8:30am and I thought that was late, but it was the earliest they had - yes I am crazy! LOL Plus we never sleep too well from the excitement the night before.. so it works out great.